FOUR is the magic number for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot today (3:35). Both John Gosden and Aidan O’Brien have four wins in the race and both combine for a field of just four, the former with the odds-on favourite to make his four a five and the latter with three four-year-olds to do likewise.

Only four runners is disappointing. That can be put down to a combination of a tightly packed campaign, the bear presence of Enable and the more worrying trend of the breeding industry prioritising speed and precocity.